


This Is Bad.

by AnabielVriskaMars



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-19
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-04-27 01:29:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5028430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnabielVriskaMars/pseuds/AnabielVriskaMars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He wasn't really at odds about his friendship with Pacifica. He'd come to accept that it was something pretty great, especially having friends outside of Mabel.</p><p>The problem was when his *one* friend was about to face off with his *one* sister in a cheap, glitter-cased, singing showdown and he couldn't bring himself to cheer against either one of them.</p><p>This was bad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Awkward Encounters Of The First Type

**Author's Note:**

> hohoho why do i do this to myself
> 
> this is part of the dipperiffica compilation I've been doing lately.

"Soooooo...?" Mabel twirled in the middle of the living room, showing off one of her newer and more...  _glittering_ sweaters. This one had a microphone right across a shining star at the end of a rainbow in a rather loud purple background. 

Dipper was trying to ignore this, he really was, but Mabel's friends coos and 'aah's wouldn't let him focus on reading over one of Uncle Ford's old dissertations on the possibility or interdimensional travel using only a spoon and a squirrel.

It was pretty interesting, he thought, that using the electric impulses that the squirrel---

"Dipper!" Mabel's voice cut through his thoughts. He grumbled and put the thesis down, glaring.

Mabel grinner, arms outstretched to show her flamboyant sweater in all its splendor. "What do you think?"

He bit back a rude retort. Lately things with Mabel were a bit strained, and that had been taking its toll on him, so maybe this could be a little bit of an olive branch.

"That's..." he sighed. "That's really pretty Mabes, did you make it yourself?"

This, apparently, was exactly the right thing to say.

Mabel beamed. "Yes!" she yelled, pumping both fists in the air triumphantly. "Its one of my better works! I wanted to use it for the  _Sing 'Till U Drop_ competition, but I'm not sure they'll go with my nacho earrings." She grinned, all the metal in her teeth glinting, making her seem a lot like a disco ball.

A little warmth spread through Dipper.

He'd missed seeing Mabel like this, happy and excited and just... being Mabel. He'd missed not having these awkward silences, or how they now split up so often. She was always with Grenda and Candy, and he, well, he was always with Uncle Ford.

Cause Summer wasn't gonna last forever, right? And they were going to go back to California and they'd have each other and no one else, and she'd be out of friends, and he'd be out a grunkle who really understood him.

But that did  _not_ mean that Dipper was happy with the way things were with Mabel lately.

It took him a moment to realize that Mabel was still talking to him.

"You're gonna go cheer for me, right?" she asked. 

Dipper smiled. "Who else would I cheer for?"

Mabel grinned. "Perfect! But no I've got to go to the mall to get something that  _doesn't_ clash with this sweater! Let's  _goooooo_!"

For the life of him, Dipper would not be able to say exactly why he  _did_ go to the mall with the girls.

* * *

When they arrived, his mind sort of slammed back into him and he realized that he'd  _come to the mall with the girls_ and that seemed like the  _opposite_ of what Dipper would've liked to be doing. Mabel looked ecstatic, though, so Dipper mostly kept quiet and started sort of... walking around.

It was rather generous to call it a mall, really.

It was more of a department store with a couple of little stores in it, but it served its purpose. Frankly, it was all the same to him.

So he wandered off and eventually ran into a bench and just sat down. He watched patrons walking by as he thought about what he'd read so far from Ford's thesis.

It was a little harder to focus when a rather sharp tone of voice caught him unawares.

"Why is it that  _every time_ I run into you you manage to look more pathetic than the last?"  Strangely enough, the tone wasn't unkind.

He didn't even have to turn to place the voice, but he still did, just as a little squiggle drew itself inside his stomach.

"Pacifica." He said, his voice a little more high pitched than he'd hoped. He sincerely wished she hadn't noticed.

Thankfully, if she did, she made no comment.

"W-what are you doing here?" Oh _God_ , now he was  _stuttering_.

Why,  _why_ on earth would he get this nervous around Pacifica? He could barely stand he--!

Okay, well, that wasn't really true anymore, he guessed.

A thought crept into his mind.

What if he lik--

No. _Nope._  Negative. Nuh-huh.

There was no possible universe in which that was a thing that was happening.

He did not  _like_ Pacifica, alright?

He just happened to notice that today she wore a pretty shade of green eyeshadow. And that her hair was nice. And that she smelled like lavander. And that was kind of his favorite smell.

But he certainly, absolutely, and with no chance of error, did  _not_ like Pacifica Northwest.

Right?

"What are you doing here?" He asked, mostly to get the voice in his head to shut up.

Pacifica shrugged disinterestedly and pretended to be looking elsewhere, as if her conversation with Dipper was one she didn't want to be having.

Strangely enough, that's not how it felt.

Dipper knew how Pacifica was. She had some image to maintain, he guessed, and its not like he fit in the job description for pretty, rich, popular girl. It stung, but he understood. She had to make it  _seem_ like she was stuck in a conversation with him, even if she actually  _enjoyed_ hanging out with him.

But did she?

Well, she'd said they were friends, right? But both times they'd hung out, it had been just the two of them where nobody could see them.

Like, okay, fine.

Pacifica could only be his friend when nobody was around.

Dipper felt as if there were pinpricks all through his ribs, and like all the air inside of him was gone and he was a deflated balloon.

"I came to sign up for the _Sing Till U Drop_ contest. Its stupid. I'm  _obviously_ going to win, but you know, formalities." She stole a glance at him from the corner of her eyes, through that little clump of eyelashes. It felt as if there were still a tiny bit of air in the balloon. "You?"

"Mabel signed up for the competition, too. She came for clothes." The less words he used, the better. He did not want his disappointment tinting his words.

Even though he was pretending not to be looking at her, he was totally looking at her, and that's why he didn't miss it when Pacifica's face hardened just a little and how her eyelids flinched just a  _smidgen._

But he really wasn't  _really_ looking at her, alright? He was just observant.

He blinked once and her face was back to its condescending, disinterested demeanor, and her voice had not missed a single beat.

"Oh, so I get to wipe the floor clean with Mabel." She flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Good, that's  _something_ to look forward to, I guess."

He didn't really know what overcame him. There was no voice in his head. He had no ulterior motive. The words just slipped out of his mouth as if they'd been there forever.

"Well, I wish you luck with that. Mabel's gotten amazing. I'm not sure  _anyone_ could beat her."

There was the flinch again.

It was bad, he knew, but he felt satisfied.

He wanted the words to sort of sink in to her head, so he pretended to hear his name being called.

"Oh, there's Mabel," he said, pointing in an absolutely random direction. "I gotta go, but I guess I'll see you at the contest. Good luck." He said, and walked away.

It was satisfying, he told himself. Of course it felt  _nice_ to sort of dish out that feeling that she'd given him.

She wanted to pretend she was too good for him while they were in public? Alright. 

That's exactly why he pretended not to notice when she'd flinched at the mention of Mabel actually  _winning_ the contest. He pretended not to know  _how_ competitive Pacifica was, or how last time they'd faced off, it was a super close call. He acted as if it was all the same to him, and that he had  _no interest_ in seeing her do well.

This was  _satisfying_ , he told himself one more time, before disappearing between coat hangers, very pointedly not looking over his shoulder at pacifica.

Satisfying. Sure.

* * *

Blandin hid behind the fern.

This was  _not_ how that was supposed to go.

He still really, truly did not understand what his purpose was. He only knew that he was supposed to keep those two children close to one another.

And something, some sort of...  _time thing_ , in him, told Blandin that this was  _not_ good at all.

He frowned.

He'd have to do something about this.

 

 

 


	2. Two Very Different Conversations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello naughty children
> 
> is anybody else freaking out about the season finale? cause i sure as hell am

The ride home was rather quiet.

They had no other way to go, since Grunkle Stan was busy muttering about something that Dipper was pretty sure was illegal, and Grunkle Ford... Well, he hadn't driven a car in about 20 years. Wendy and Soos were both no-gos, so they'd opted for taking the golf cart.

Because what responsible adult _wouldn't_ allow his twelve-year-old niece and nephew to take a golf cart? They were chased by a giant made of gnomes once before, so Dipper was  _pretty_ _sure_ that counted as a driving test and he'd passed.

The girls were chatting happily, but his mind kept drifting back to having seen Pacifica.

Why,  _why_ was this driving him nuts?

 _Why_ did it bother him so much what she already knew about her and had never bothered him?

He sighed. It would be easier to keep obsessing over Wendy.

The weird thing was that he didn't want to.

No, not want to-- he just didn't.

He--

He'd gotten over Wendy.

 _What?_ When had  _that_ happened?

Dipper was so focused on pinpointing the exact time when Wendy had stopped being the center of his entire thought process that he didn't notice Mabel's tiny hand waving in front of his eyes.

"Hellooooo? Earth to Dipper? Beep boop bomp!" She poked his cheek in time with the noises, and it startled him back to reality.

"Hm? What?" He blinked a couple of times before turning to look at Mabel. She tried looking cheerful, but he saw the concern.

"Hey, bro-bro, where's your head at? We're here." Her voice was a little lower than usual. Dipper knew he was going to get grilled for answers a little later. Strangely enough, it felt comforting.

"Yeah, sorry Mabes." Dipper said, and smiled a little. He killed the engine and got off the car and up into his room. He could hear Mabel and her friends from the first level of the house, but he didn't mind much. It was nice to hear something.

* * *

The interesting thing about staying in a place were normal was as rare as an extra chicken in your McDonald's order was that you could always sort of feel when something messed up was about to happen.

To Mabel, it felt like there was a little squirrel in her stomach trying to burrow itself for winter.

To Dipper, it felt more like a dark cloak of impending doom.

And that was exactly what he was feeling the second before there was a bright light in his room and the future guy was standing with his arms crossed in front of the door. It was funny how his eyebrows would angle themselves on top of his glasses just so that you could know exactly  _how_ angry he was.

Judging by the thirty degrees, Dipper would say this was going to be unpleasant.

" _Why_ do you always want to make my job difficult?" Blandin asked. Dipper, who had raised his head from the pillow, stared at him for a whole of two seconds before dropping back down to stare at the roof.

"I guess I'm supposed to know what you're talking about." He stated, bored. Future guy was not really at the top of his 'I-wanna-talk-to-right-now' list.

" _Dipper Pines_ ," Blandin said authoritatively, though Dipper had  _no idea_ what he had authority over, "you are, once again, causing trouble with the time stream. You stop that."

Pretty much fed up with the day he was having so far, Dipper sat up, glaring at Blandin.

"Yes, I will do it  _right now_ , why don't I? So tell me, what  _exactly_ am I doing wrong? Did I wear my hat wrong today? Did I leave my dice where somebody could trip and break their ankle? Are my books in the way of a scientific discovery?  _What_ is it this time?"

Blandin did not seem put off particularly by his rudeness. He just pointed at Dipper with an ominous index finger.

"You stop fighting with that girl."

Dipper frowned.  _That_ was unexpected.

"I haven't fought with Mabel, what are you--"

"Not Mabel, kid, the other girl."

"Who? I'm not fighting with  _anyone_ at the moment. Other than you, I mean."

Blandon's eyebrows angled further. "You know which one! The singer."

"The sing--? Wait, you mean  _Pacifica?_ " Now  _this_ was something messed up happening right about now, and his cloak of doom had  _not_ warned him.

"Yes. That one. The Northwest girl." He said. "Stop quarrelling with her."

Now, Dipper's eyebrows had shot up so far into his forehead they were almost lost in his hairline. It was kind of giving him a headache.

"I'm not  _fighting_ with her! Besides, what's it to you if I am?"

"Do not question the future!" Blandin hissed. "This is your only warning, Dipper Pines. Do not interfere with the normal flux of time!" And just like that, he fumbled his time-traveling tape out of his pocket and disappeared from sight.

Dipper scratched his head under his hat.

This was a new level of silly.

* * *

It was almost sundown when Mabel barged into the room and jumped on his bed, nearly throwing him off. She grinned, sitting at the foot of the bed and stared at him expectantly.

"Talk." She said cheerfully.

"There's nothing to talk about," he said feebly. He didn't know  _why_ he was resisting. He just kind of thought he should. You know. Because they're siblings.

"Well, I can stay here all night if that's what it takes to get you to talk."

"Mabel, this is your room." Dipper pointed out. Mabel grinned.

"Exactly."

Dipper sighed.

"Fine. There's this girl--"

Mabel groaned. "Wendy?  _Again?_ "

"Its not Wendy!" He snapped.  _This_ caught Mabel's attention.

"Its  _not?_ " She gaped. "Oh my god!! Who is it?"

"Its not important. Are you gonna let me talk or not?"

But Mabel's thoughts had taken her away. "Is it Candy? It could be, she's so pretty! But well, so is Grenda."

"Its not one of your friends, Mabel." He grumbled.

"What? One of _W_ _endy's_ friends? Like Tambry? Or dang, Robbie?"

"What? Of  _course not!_ "

"Phew," she pretended to wipe sweat off her brow, "I like Tambry and all, but that would've been a  _liiiittle_ weird, I think." She mused, and then frowned. "But wait, if its none of them... There aren't  _that_ many girls in Gravity Falls so--" Mabel froze.

She slowly,  _ever-so-slowly_ turned to face him, an accusatory look on her face.

"You mean to tell me," she began, "that you met someone from  _outside_ of town? Woooooooow, Pshoo!" She made an exploding gesture with her hand at the height of her temple. Dipper decided to just roll with it.

"Yes, whatever," he lied, "the point is, at first we couldn't stand each other. Then we sort of became friends. And it was cool. She was a lot cooler than I gave her credit for being. But we sort of don't  _fit_ together, you know? And its just so  _uuuugh_ because its like the Wendy situation all over again, so  _why_ do I have to have all this in my head?  _Why_ do I have to like the wrong girls all the time? It sucks, Mabes."

Mabel stayed quiet for a second before standing from the bed and reaching for something on her side of the room. When she came back, she flopped next to Dipper by the headboard, a big scrapbook in her lap.

He recognized the book.

Mabel opened her M _y Summer Romance r_ ight across both her laps and quietly flipped the pages, showing one by one mementos of all the guys she'd liked through the summer. After a few seconds of flipping through pages, she began talking.

"I know how you feel, bro." She sighed. "I know you think they were always silly crushes and whatnot, and yeah, maybe they weren't as big or as intense as what you had for Wendy, but believe it or not... I kinda know what you're going through." She looked at him and smiled halfheartedly.

"Do you remember the time we fought with those weird Eye-guys with a mind erasing machine?"

"Unfortunately."

"Well, do you remember that I almost erased my memories about all these failed flings?"

Dipper felt something constrict in his chest. "Of course I do."

"Well, do you know why I didn't?"

"Not particularly."

"Cause it would suck to forget something that made you really happy at some point, you know?"

Dipper stayed quiet for a second.

She was right, of course.

One way or another, he liked Pacifica. May the Gods pity his soul, but he did.

She was smart and brave and she always wore the prettiest eyeshadows. She smell of lavander and she was so much fun when it was just the two of them, and he just--

\--he liked her. And that sucked.

But it didn't mean that he didn't like how it felt. Like it was with Wendy.

Even though Wendy had never returned his feelings, he wasn't sorry he had liked her. It was a pretty good feeling after all.

And, well, he couldn't blame Pacifica for acting the way she did, and she certainly didn't deserve the attitude he was giving her.

Yeah, he'd have to apologize.

"Dip?" Mabel asked, after a few seconds of silence, "are you still with me?"

He looked at Mabel and smiled. "You're pretty wise, you know that."

Mabel grinned, slightly abashed. "Oh, stop it, you." She looked back at him, a little embarrassed. "Awkward sibling hug?" She opened her arms.

Dipper smiled. "Awkward sibling hug."

And they hugged it out, just for a second, like they always did. They patted each other in the back awkwardly before separating, and this time, Dipper felt a lot more at ease, and very grateful to his sister.

He should really stop underestimating her.

"Well, I know what I have to do. I'm going out for a bit." He stood and walked towards the door. From his bed, Mabel called back at him.

"Don;t forget the competition tonight! I need you there cheering for me!"

Dipper smiled and waved awkwardly. "Wouldn't dream of it." He said, and went out the door.

It wasn't until he was halfway to Pacifica's when he realized he didn't know who to root for.

 

 


	3. Caught Smack In The Middle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a job jump at me and I haven't been upd8ing, sorry!

He'd rung the bell once before the idea of what he was doing sort of slapped the hat out of his head.

He had come over to Pacifica's after sundown, ready to apologize for being a total jerk. But... I mean, he didn't  _really_ have to apologize right? Because he didn't really say  _anything_ wrong, after all. And really, coming here might give her the wrong idea of what he--

"Mr. Pines," Dipper's inner rant was cut short by the overly polite voice of Mrs. Beaumont, one of the Northwest mansion maids. Dipper rather liked her, though he'd only seen her, like, twice, but she was always polite to him and bothered remembering his name, which he was sure was not a common occurrence for someone in the Northwest household. "I suppose you are here for the young mistress?"

Dipper scratched his head awkwardly and looked at the ground, willing his body not to blush, even though he  _knew_ he was blushing.

Fortunately, Ms Beaumont did not need an answer, and rather just smiled a tiny, polite smile with a hint of endearment and turned on her heel, presumably to find Pacifica.

"Please follow me, Mr Pines," she said, and Dipper followed her to a little ante-room. Dipper knew this wasn't the living room, but it was definitely bigger than the one at the Shack. "Sit down, I will fetch the young lady."

Dipper nodded and sat in the least-expensive looking pillowed couch, though he was sure it  _still_  cost more than any salary he'd ever make.

It was only about two minutes before Pacifica came down. She was wearing the same thing she'd worn in the afternoon, but her make up was rather elaborate and she was out of breath.

"What do you want?" 

Yeah, okay, he deserved that.

"Hey," he rubbed his arm nervously, "I, uh, I just wanted to apologize." He cleared his throat. He saw her defenses budge just an inch and took it as a good sign. "When we talked in the afternoon... I wasn't really myself, y'know? Okay, no, that's not true-- I was myself and I was kind of a jerk, cause I was in a bad mood, and I know! I shouldn't have talked to you like that-- its just-- its difficult"

She was enjoying watching him squirm and he knew it. That didn't mean he was out of the woods.

"What's difficult? Being  _pleasant_?"

Dipper threw his hands up. Why did she have to be so difficult!

"This!" He gestured at them. "I want to be your friend, and I know you want to be mine, but there's... _something_ that won't let us!" As he always did when he was frustrated and trying to come up with answers, Dipper paced. "I know that you're  _embarrassed_ to be seen with me but--"

" _What_?" 

If Dipper's thoughts were butter, her answer had cut right through.

"You think," Oh boy was she angry, " _I_ would be  _embarrassed_ to hang out with  _you?_ " She poked him in the chest. "Listen here, Dipper Pines. I am  _Pacifica Northwest"_ \--was it wrong that her own name on her lips sounded wonderful?-- "I am the  _queen_ of this town, and there is  _nothing_ in this world that can change that. And that  _includes_ hanging out with a dork like you."

"But--"

"No buts!" Her anger simmered, "You don't get to decide what I feel or how I react to it." She thought for a second and he saw her comprehension dawn. "Wait, you thought I was embarrassed.  _That_ 's why you were being a jerk?"

"...Yeah..." Again, Dipper scratched the back of his head. Pacifica took a step away from him, taking the lovely lavander scent with her. His fingers itched to reached out, but he didn't. "I'm... I'm sorry." He mumbled. 

Pacifica sighed and tossed her hair back, and a little of the scent caught him, as if she was extending a little bit of her affection. "Whatever." She looked at him over her shoulder. "What wisened you up to stop being an idiot?"

Now,  _thi_ _s_ was going to be weird.

"Mabel." Dipper said, and the word hung between the two of them. "She knew there was something up and we talked a little and I just... sorta figured things out. Accepted my guilt. Came to apologize. And am currently embarrassing myself."

"You're always embarrassing yourself." Pacifica replied, not unkindly. 

This lifted his spirits a little.

"So," Pacifica began, looking away. "You're going to the Sing 'Till U Drop, right?"

"Yeah, of course."

She cleared her throat. 

"I hope..." she faltered, and began again, more confidently. "You better cheer me on." Her tone was commanding and her body language was confident, but her tone was vulnerable and it was just perfect.

"Who else would I root for?"

Pacifica smiled.

* * *

Oh my god.

_Slam._

How.

_Slam._

_How_ could he screw up so badly?

 _Slam_.

He had promised both his twin  _and_ the girl he liked that he'd be cheering for them in the competition.

Against each other.

Dipper slammed his forehead against the tree again.

This was so so  _bad_.

The contest would start soon and he was still in the forrest on the way back to the Shack with absolutely no idea of what to do.

He slammed his head against the tree one more time, just to see if it helped.

It didn't.

Dipper dropped to the floor and stared up at the sky. There were no stars because this was a terrible day with lots of clouds and a terrible day altogether.

And then came the patented glow and spear of light and Dipper was down in the dirt watching Blandin upside down and he looked even  _angrier_ than before.

"You've continued to mess with the timestream, Dipper Pines!"

Dipper dropped his head again. He didn't feel like dealing with this guy.

"For your persistence in damaging the timeline, I place you under arrest by the law of the time police!"

It took a second too many for Dipper to realize that this was serious, and that second was enough to make things much, much more terrible.

* * *

It wasn't strange that the Northwests weren't coming to her competition.

Pacifica sat back against the car seat. Carl was driving, just like he had been that time she'd run into Dipper at Rosie's. It would be a lie to say that she hadn't thought about that day.

Still, on to the more important part, Pacifica's parents weren't coming.

How could something so commonplace and repeated make her sad?

She shook her head. 

No. That didn't make her sad. Pacifica Northwest did  _not_ get sad.

Though a little part of Pacifica Northwest was comforted by somebody  _else_ cheering her on for the competition tonight.

She'd been surprised to see him waiting in the foyer, but--

Wait, was that lightning?

Paz couldn't help but looking out the window. The sky was a little cloudy, but definitely not stormy and---

Wait, was that Dipper by the roadside? Who was the fat guy in that ugly tracksuit?

Before she could grasp what was going on, she saw the bald guy grab a hold of Dipper's arm and disappear in a single flash of light.

"Dipper!" The words were torn out of her mouth. She scrambled to the side of the car and threw the passenger door's open. She heard Carl yelp and skid to a halt, but she'd already jumped out of the --thankfully very slow moving-- car. When she arrived at the scene, there was nothing there, and for a moment Pacifica wondered if she'd imagined the entire ordeal.

Except Dipper's hat was there,right next to the tree.

Her blood ran cold.

What should she do? Usually, when this sort of thing happened she'd go to Dipper! So now what? What could she--?

Ugh.

She couldn;t believe it.

She stomped back to the car, half anxious and half annoyed.

"Carl, change course." She ordered. "We're going to the Mystery Shack."

"We will be late for the competition, miss."

She was  _not_ in the mood for this. "Just _do it_."

Gripping the hat in her hands, Pacifica sent out two prayers. 

One was that Dipper would be fine.

The other was that Mabel would believe her when she told her.

 

 


	4. The Girls Step Up

So.

I mean, it was probably a good thing, right?

Like, it was better than being stuck in the middle of Mabes and Pacifica, Dipper thought, even if it meant being in a time prison, sort of floating about in a giant white space of nothingness.

The strange thing was that he could actually create things with his mind in this space. For the last hour he'd been floating in front of a giant chessboard playing against an image of himself, only two inches taller.

As far as prisons went, this could  _definitely_ have been a lot more prison-y. Not that he was complaining. It was just an observation.

"You should probably try to break out." OtherDipper said, sitting atop one of his knights.

"Nah," replied OriginalDipper. "This is much better."

"You just don't want to face the girls, do you?"

OriginalDipper pshawed. "That is  _not_ true. I'm  _not_ scared of dealing with that."

"Never said you were, dude. You're putting words in my mouth. In yours, really. Ours? Technically--" OtherDipper fell into a philosophical silence for a second. "No, wait, you're trying to distract me. You  _are_ scared of dealing with Mabel and Pacifica."

" _Why_ would I be scared of dealing with them?" OriginalDipper was most definitely terrified of dealing with them, and he was very happy to be trapped in a future interdimensional prison playing chess with himself, thank you very much. "Its not like I  _want_ to be here." He certainly did.

"You realize that you're wasting your time trying to convince another incarnation of you that you're not scared of dealing with them, right? Like, I'm totally just a projection of your mind, so technically this counts as one of those crazy soliloquies you go on _entirely_ by yourself when you're either trying to figure something out, or when you're drowning in denial. So which is it?"

OriginalDipper glared at OtherDipper for a few seconds.  

"Am I really this infuriating?"

"Trust me, you're worse."

OriginalDipper groaned. He should probably find a way out.

If only so as not to deal with himself. His taller self. That jerk.

"By the way, check mate."

It was official. Dipper hated his other self.

_____________________________

 

"Wait, hold on --what do you mean _disappeared_?"

"I mean he was there and then Baldy McUgly took him away and I don't know where! So are you going to help me or not?" Pacifica's patience was running thin. Mabel was definitely  _not_ in the list of people Paz wanted to be seen with.

"Alright. Lead the way."

"Wait," Pacifica stopped for a second, considering. "How do you know I'm not just trying to trick you into walking away from the competition?"

Mabel paused for a second. "Are you?"

"Why would you believe me if I said no?" Pacifica asked.

"I don;t think you'd lie about this. Its kind of big, y'know. Telling me that my brother was taken in an interdimentional vortex doesn't seem your style." Mabel reasoned. "Besides, you're coming with, right?"

Ah, now  _that_ stopped Pacifica Northwest in her tracks. "What?"

Blink. Blink blink.

"You're coming with me. To save Dipper. Aren't you?"

"I--" Pacifica started, but piped down. That was a  _very_ good question.

On one side, Dipper and she were friends, right? He promised to cheer for her, he'd helped her get her brooch back... They'd even had that moment at the diner.

But like, was he worth possibly missing out of the competition?

"Pacifica?" Mabel pressed. Her smile was melting from her face like ice cream in summer. "You're coming with, right?"

"I... where?"

This little break was enough to give Mabel the jeebies, so when she spoke, it was more reserved. 

"It sounds like Blandin. He's a future police guy. I think I know how to get to him... but I need to know that you're with me."

Now this was as stressful a moment as the girls ever had together --well, except for all those other times when they'd faced off, but you know about those.

Pacifica thought about the competition and all her thoughts about it... and found that the one that kept popping up the most was Dipper cheering for her from the crowd.

So she supposed that was settled then.

"Yeah, I'm coming with you."

_________________________________________________________

This was  _not_ what she'd had in mind.

"Are you serious?" Pacifica asked. Mabel looked decisive. Paz couldn't help but notice how similar the twins' profiles were, and wanted to punch herself for that very thought half a second after she conceived it.  "A Lasertag? What are we? Twelve?"

"Pacifica, we  _are_ twelve." Mabel replied, but then returned to her serious facade. "Besides, I think there's a door here."

"So what, we just sort of break into an interdimensional whatever and say 'give me back Dipper?' You think  _that_ 'll work?"

"I was thinking more like 'give me back my brother' but yeah, that's the plan." Mabel said cheerfully. "It usually works in movies. And a couple of times we've done it."

PAcifica stared. "What on earth do you and your brother  _do_ in this town?"

Mabel smiled, and said nothing.

Well at least until there was a blinding light and they both felt their stomachs way up in their throats.

 _Then_ she started screaming.

____________________________________________________

Mabel landed on the floor with an oomph. 

"Ow."

_Thump._

"Ouch!"

She had to admit that Pacifica landing harder than her was ever so slightly satisfying. 

"Are you okay?" Mabel asked.

"I've been better. What happened?"

" _You_." A shrill, high pitched voice resonated against the empty, white walls, that somehow made the sound much louder. This awful sound was accompanied by an accusing index finger pointing exactly at Pacifica.

Mabel just  _knew_ this wasn't good.

___________________________________________________

When they threw her into the room she sort of expected to hit the floor pretty hard. I mean, that's what had been happening today, apparently, and Mabel was out of oomphs.

This proved to be a  _good_ thing, when she was thrown into the room and there were no oomphs. Mostly because there was no floor to hit. Also no gravity to pull her there, even if there  _had_ been a floor.

There was also no Pacifica, but that was much less important than the lack of... everything?

Everything except one thing, apparently.

"Mabel!" Ooh, she recognized that voice.

"Dipper!" She tuurned around to find her brobro sort of floating in her direction. She had never been so happy to see him in her entire life.

No wait, that's not true. He once came home with ice cream for her.  _That_ was the happiest she'd ever been to see him.

Well, and the time he decided at the last minute to stay for the holidays and not leave her alone with the cousins.

Actually, Mabel was pretty much always happy to see Dipper, and this time, it was no exception.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, bewildered, as he finally reached her. Floating was a very  _slow_ means of transportation.

"Duh, we came for you!"

"I don;t know what happened! Suddenly Blandin showed up again and he said I'd interfered for the last time and it just--- wait, 'we'?"

"Well, yeah, me and Pacifica!" Mabel explained. "She was the one that saw you disappear and came to me."

"What? REally?" Dipper looked a bit to the side, and Mabel just  _knew_ that look.

"Whoa whoa whoa." She waved her arms side to side, as if stopping time. "Wait... the girl you were talking about... the one you said was from out of town. It was  _Pacifica?_ "

Dipper scratched the back of his head guitily. "I uh, I never said she was from out of town. You did, I just didn;t say no."

Mabel ignored him. " _Really? Pacifica?_ "

"Look, its a long, complicated story, okay? I'll tell you about it some other time, alright?"

But MAbel certainly wasn't going to wait for some other time. She was about to unleash siblingly, loving jests and jokes about him liking Pacifica, when the door opened, and there was a hge, bald, muscly guy wearing sunshades and having a seriously blank expression in his face.

"Mabel and Dipper Pines." He pronounced. "Come hither to receive your punishment for disturbing the flow of time."

...

Okay, this wasn't the first time they'd heard something like this, but Mabel knew that whatever came next just wouldn't be pretty. Dipper knew it too.

Things were about to get ugly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh god, im so sorry if this turned out incredbly bland. im kind of in the middle of a block and im trying to power through it through my fics. i hope it wasnt too horrible


End file.
